CJ Sapong, Sporting KC draft pick, trains with Michael Jackson on Wii

Going into Thursday’s MLS SuperDraft, soccer pundits, analysts and fans all were thinking the club needed one thing: defense. But after many of the top defenders in the draft class were snapped up before SKC’s pick at No. 10, the team chose to go for offense.

The move startled just about everybody, including SKC’s selection, CJ Sapong, a standout forward from James Madison University. “I was surprised being [taken in the] first round. James Madison University wasn’t a place where I got a lot of exposure,” the giddy Sapong says. “I knew I was one of many players with a lot to prove.”